2661/Competing Theories

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Competing Theories
Date of Scene: 28 July 2020
Location: Boardwalk - St Martin's Island
Synopsis: Vic and Valeria meet up for what they quickly realize wasn't a date after all.
Cast of Characters: Victor Stone, Valeria Richards




Victor Stone has posed:
Superheroes meet a lot of people in the course of their daily activities, but at the same time, it's not easy to /meet people/ as a superhero. Vic Stone, especially, feels shielded from a certain self-consciousness, protected by the anonymity of a username. It was only after spending days embroiled in a heated online debate over the benefits and drawbacks of alternative high-altitude hover propulsion systems that he finally fired off what was surely the ultimate trump card:

"@ResistanceIsFutile94: OH YEAH??? Well, internet brain genius, it just so happens I'm Cyborg! From the Titans! So I know what I'm talking about!"

That particular gambit elicited a pretty embarrassing reply, but Vic was gracious about walking back his puffy-chested credentials drop, and he and Valeria Richards ended up trading jokes about social media randos getting in arguments with world-class experts for a week or so afterward before he tentatively suggested meeting in person.

So it is that he finds himself waiting at the entrance to the St. Martin's Boardwalk, watching boats go by out on the water and bobbing his head to a relaxed 90s hip-hop beat that is just audible near him.

Valeria Richards has posed:
It's not easy being a girl supergenius whose parents are, you know, the leaders of the Fantastic Four and like, the most famous superheroes ever. Or something. Besides, people her age are SOOOOOO lame and dumb and most of them are still stuck on, like, basic algebra while she mastered theoretical mathematics years ago. It's really, really hard to make friends and find people who //actually// know what they are talking about, even if they are in fact totally wrong about the subequations needed for proper manuevers at high velocity in a thin atmosphere...

Ahem.

Valeria Richards was absolutely thrilled at the offer to meet up in person and, you know, hang out with someone that wasn't her brother (lame) or her uncle (even more lame because he thinks he's cool) or even her Godfather and his girlfriend (marginally less lame). So when she arrives at the boardwalk, she's dressed in something the internet told her was totally on-fashion for the summer (a royal blue strappy-backed sundress and flats, because ugh heels why do you know what kind of damage those do to your muscles and tendons?), with her long blonde hair pulled up into a high ponytail. She's very much inherited her mother's good looks along with her father's megabrain. "Hey!" she greets Victor-- he does kind of stand out, after all. "Oh awesome, you are really who you said you are!" Because that's a thing and people are totally jerks.

Victor Stone has posed:
His tunes cut out at a quick mental signal, and Vic gives Val a broad grin and a wave. "Oh yeah, it's me!" he calls out as Valeria approaches. He's usually impossible to miss from any distance, but today he's only difficult to overlook: for his part, the cyborg is wearing a fitted pair of black track pants and a slate blue athletic jacket, zipped as high as it will go -- about mid-chest. The cut is surprisingly current, but it's unmistakably casual athletic wear. As he patiently explained to the friend who helped dress him, he can only get so fashionable before skinny-cut cloth starts getting jammed in his mechanical joints.

"Thanks for coming out to Metropolis! I hope the trip didn't stress the capacitors on your dad's old-fashioned engine," he teases lightly. "So! I know this is right in my backyard" -- he inclines his head toward the unmistakable T shape of Titans Tower on its island nearby -- "but I haven't been out here much. What sounds good to you? Arcade? Amusement park? Thai food? I think there's a little rock concert happening soon, too."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"I love Metropolis," Val replies with a grin. "I don't come out here too much, but it's just such a nice place." She glances over towards the giant T and cocks her head. "You know, structurally, that design really isn't the most efficient." It's an afterthought, really, as she continues, "but I'm sure it was a decision made more from a marketing standpoint anyway. The lobby of the Baxter building is also inefficient, but Mom says it's comforting to people who come to see her and Dad." She gives a brilliant smile to Vic. "Manners, sorry!" She sticks out her hand. "Valeria Richards. Call me Val though."

She looks down the boardwalk and makes an 'ooh' sound. She may have, over the last week, demonstrated a large depth of knowledge about many subjects, especially involving science and engineering, but she is... very...

Young.

"Any of those options sound fantastic(TM)! But probably Thai first, because I don't remember eating breakfast today."

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic keeps grinning as Val bounces directly from aircraft engineering to architectural critique without missing a beat, then takes her hand, dipping into a little bow over it. This does not bring him down anywhere close to her eye level -- even before his prosthetics, Vic was an astonishingly big person. "Victor Stone," he introduces himself. "Vic to cool people, Cyborg to Titans fanboys, some of whom I will grudgingly admit are also cool."

His grin does falter slightly as he executes the old-fashioned alternative to a handshake -- Vic's used to being bigger than his dates, but Valeria isn't just little. He pointedly didn't google her after they agreed to meet, because he has a firm policy against cyberstalking (cyborgstalking?) anyone who isn't a criminal or supervillain, but in person, she doesn't look like the postdoc he expected. Frankly, she looks like she might apply for a summer job at a Baskin Robbins so that she'll have a budget to decorate her dorm in the freshman high-rise come fall.

"Alright, then, Thai food it is," Vic answers, straightening up, turning, and crooking his elbow to offer Valeria his arm. He'll find a subtle way to ask about her age later. "Didn't eat, huh? Working on something cool?" He knows how that can be... except for the 'didn't eat' part. If there's one thing that will pull him out of his own flow state, it's hunger.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Val slides her arm in his, grinning. "Mm, yeah. I 'borrowed' my uncle's Lambo the other day because I had a thought to put in some upgrades he'll probably like? I mean, I was thinking about non-combustive rocket boosters, but while I was looking at the underlying structure of the vehicle I realized the framework will probably not survive that sort of velocity, so I'm trying to work out how to exchange out the framework without him losing his mind when he gets the car back. He will proooooobably want it back in one piece but I was thinking that it could be useful to add in some extra twinky bits to make it functional underwater as well." She frowns a little. "But I can't change the visual structure at all... which is... somewhat frustrating." She shrugs. "So I forgot to eat breakfast. It happens."

Victor Stone has posed:
"Nice! I mean, /non-combustive/ rocket boosters are kind of off-brand for your uncle, but definitely a better choice," Vic says, latching onto the new topic like a cat onto a tummy-rubbing hand. "You can always remove the entire chassis and replace it with a less malleable material. Most people don't look at the undercarriage too closely, so you might be able to get away with some cosmetic changes. I did that with the T-car three times! Second one threw the weight distribution way off, so watch out for that if you want him to still be able to, uh. Steer."

Speaking of which, Vic steers them into the Thair restaurant as they approach, holding the door open for Val, its jingling bell announcing their arrival. The host gives Val a friendly smile, and then his eyes go wide as he takes in the sight of Vic looming behind her. "...Two?" he asks in a small voice, after a long delay.

Vic tilts his head askance and answers, "Yeah, but... make it a table for four."

As they're seated, he continues their conversation from earlier. "My dad actually designed the Tower," Vic admits. "I was a teenager, at the time" -- he doesn't pointedly cough, which is a real mark of restraint -- "so I didn't really have much say in the design. But the T shape really is a structural nightmare. SO many points of failure."

Valeria Richards has posed:
Taking her seat, Val laughs. "Well, uh, I figured he has the combustion down himself." She starts looking over the menu. "Oh, I mean, that's clear as day. Just look at the trouble the crossbars where the structre Ts out have to be dealing with, especially if you add any additional weight. I assume the top of the tower can be used as a landing zone? If not, that's really underutilizing your assets." She frowns suddenly, looking back up at him. "You're not a teenager now? I thought all the Titans were." It's a common enough misconception, to be fair.

Victor Stone has posed:
"Oh, yeah, we've got a landing pad, a pool, a communications array -- we are making good use of all that extra square footage. But it all adds more and more weight, as I'm sure you can imagine. Those crossbars are basically the VIPs of the entire organization," Vic answers as he flicks open his menu. His chair creaks a little bit as he shifts his weight, and he stares at the curries for a moment without actually reading anything. Finally, he carefully clarifies, "Well, I /was/ a teenager when the group /started./" He looks at her over the top of the menu, artificial and organic eyes unblinking. "In 2012."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Oh." Complex calculations don't faze her, so simple ones are... well, simple. "Huh. I guess you don't age out or anything? That's cool." Her eyes widen a bit as she glances back at the menu. "Mmm, larb gai. Defffinitely getting that." She does not volunteer her age. Everyone always thinks she's too young for everything! It's never been fair. "Yeah, that's a ton-- or several tons, really-- of extra weight. Your dad must be a great engineer."

Victor Stone has posed:
"No, the original gangstas -- that's a Beast Boy thing, by the way, don't look at me -- are still around. We offer leadership and mentoring for the younger recruits," Vic explains with a smile, "and, more importantly, we're the heart of the team -- basically a family at this point. You know that dynamic, for sure, but I promise, it doesn't just happen with blood relatives. Imagine if, when you turned 20, someone had said, 'OK, time's up. You graduate to the Avengers now.' Doesn't really work that way."

Val's unwillingness to volunteer has only made Vic feel more strongly that he needs to know -- at least this line of thought will give him an over-under. At this point, the waiter arrives, and Vic orders Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, and a green curry with chicken, as well as a Thai tea for dessert, and lets Val put in her orer as well.

Once he's gone, Vic holds up a mechanical hand, ticking each of his fingertips against his palm in turn. "He'd better be a great engineer. He built both halves of me," he says, just a hint darkly. Then, with a sudden laugh, he corrects himself, "Well, actually, the set I'm wearing now I built myself. I keep them in a drawer labeled 'lookin' sharp.' But the core connections, the powertrain, the original limbs -- those are all Dad."

Valeria Richards has posed:
Valeria looks genuinely fascinated. "Merging biological tissue and mechanics is incredibly complex. There are not many who could even /try/ and most of them would still fail. Structurally you're a work of art." She grins, then frowns slightly. "Biological tissues aren't one of my specialties, I prefer to work with mechanical and technological structures, but I can appreciate it nonetheless. I imagine he had to reroute some of the nerve endings." She tilts her head, thinking for a moment. "Or the rerouted themselves. The human body is a very strange object."

Victor Stone has posed:
"Yeah, I'm one hell of an engineering feat," Vic agrees, chair creaking again as he shifts his weight uncomfortably. "I'm also more of a machines guy myself. There are biology specialists in the Titans, and I've definitely picked up a lot about nerve/computer interfaces, just out of necessity, but it's the tech that I really love. Here, let me give you a hand."

He holds up his left hand, gripping the palm with his right, and a few interior clamps disengage with a sequence of clicks. With a smooth motion, a seam near his wrist becomes a split and he removes his own hand, passing it to her. This particular model's metallic surface is smooth, with joints and servos tucked away neatly. If Val inspects it, she'll find it has arrays of very fine pressure sensors on most surfaces and is warm to the touch thanks to hidden heating elements. There's also a sound cannon emitter behind a hatch in the palm and a monofilament wire spooled in one of the fingertips.

"That's my work. Not Dad's," Vic says simply. The distinction seems important to him.

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Ooooh." Val immediately pays super close attention to the hand handed to her, gently but almost expertly poking and prodding for a few moments to inspect it in depth. "Have you considered making the aural cannon switchable to also handle higher tones? I've found at the upper range of the spectrum you can use it as a cutting tool, actually." She hmms. "Might be a bit unwieldy though from a palm. Still. Absolutely fantastic work. Amazing." She hands his hand back to him.

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic takes his hand in hand and reattaches it to his wrist with a smile. "A high-frequency sonic cutter?" he considers the possibility, leaning back in his chair, which won't stop creaking when he moves. "Actually, no, I hadn't thought of that. I normally go for big percussive b--" There's a big, percussive crack, and most of Vic disappears, leaving him only visible over the tabletop from the chin upward. "Oh my God. Not again."

He scrambles up from the floor, where he landed, and raises the heels of his hands to his forehead. "Oh Jesus, I'm so sorry!" Not only is the chair in splinters, but he has left a noticeable dent in the floor. A couple of waiters rush over, giving him perturbed looks. One tries to reassure him it's OK, while another goes for a broom and dustpan. He whips a black card with a silver T logo on it out of one jacket pocket and starts thrusting it at the closer waiter.

"Please, just--"

"Sir, it's fine--"

"I can afford it!"

"But your safety--"

"I'm a superhero, man, I--"

"We can get you another--"

"Please, just take the--"

Vic's face is completely flushed, and he spares a humiliated glance toward Val.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Val looks concerned for a moment until she realizes what happened. Then she frowns. "The chair had a structural failure," she says dryly to Vic, smiling a bit. "The additional weight from your mechanical components rendered it ineffective in supporting you." She laughs a little, scanning the restaurant. "Um, can we move.... there?" She points to one of the tables on the side of the dining room, one that would be considered a 'table of last resort' as it has a booth seat on one side and two chairs on the other. "We can adjust the table outward and booths are far more structurally capable than chairs," she points out.

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic finally convinces the waiter to take the Titans card, even though it's not like they have a menu item they can ring up for dented floors, and nods, offering his hand, shame-faced, to lead Valeria to the booth she indicated. "I should have asked for that in the first place," he mutters forcefully, annoyed with himself almost beyond reason. "Always get the half-booth! Especially on a date! Lookin' sharp limbs, Dick picks your clothes, ask for the half-booth!" Finally he returns his focus to Valeria as they settle into their new spot. "I'm really, really sorry, that's so embarrassing, and I totally understand if you want to bail out now." The waiter sets down new water glasses, and realizing that he's babbling, Vic picks his up and starts to sip from it to give his mouth something else to do.

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Oh." Val cocks her head, looking amused. "Uncle Ben crushes things /all the time/. It happens when you're heavier than normal." She shrugs lightly, happy with the new table setup. She seems entirely unfazed by this. But then again, look at her family. "No one was hurt, so everything's okay." She reaches across the table and pats his mechanical arm. "No harm, no foul, right?"

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic sets his glass back down and sighs. There's a little bit of a vocoded distortion to the sound; no one has ever been able to figure out if that's something he intentionally added for effect or not. "Yeah, that's how you know a date is going well," he says, inconsolable. "When you remind her of her /uncle/." He looks down at the spot on his arm where she gave him a reassuring pat and shakes his head.

"Which...ugh. I gotta stop dancing around that, too. Can I be real with you for a second?" He looks at her levelly, a crease between his eyebrows. "You're a beautiful girl, and you have been nothing but great company this whole time. But when I talked to you online, I assumed you were at least in graduate school." His cleverly articulated fingers tap out a little polyrhythm on the tabletop. "Like, seriously, run screaming from any guy who ever says this to you as a flirtatious thing, but you are really, /really/ smart for your age, so I thought you were closer to mine. We can totally keep having a fun time, but I think maybe we shouldn't call it a date. Is that OK?"

Valeria Richards has posed:
Val blinks. "Oh. Sure?" She looks at him curiously. "This happens a lot more than you'd think," she sighs, annoyedly. "Though maaaaaybe I should be wary of the guys who aren't weirded out I'm only 18." Her cheerful mood pops back quickly. "But, I like talking to you. It's a relief to talk to someone with, you know, a brain."

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic perks up a little when Val takes that so well -- his sagging shoulders rise, and his color starts to return to normal. "Hey, thanks, I appreciate it," he answers her with a tentative smile. "I can imagine it gets annoying as hell after a while. And from the guys I know who are in their late teens..." His nose crinkles as he considers that particular roster. "Yeah, I can imagine you'd have trouble finding someone you'd actually want to have a conversation with. Much less about something technical. Jesus." He lifts one hand to his cheek and leans to the side, considering her predicament. "I didn't really have that problem as much. When I was a football player, dates were easy to find. After the accident... Well, it wasn't a high priority. And I'm not really most girls' type anymore." He rolls his eyes at himself. "Here I go, reminding you of your uncle, again."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Oh. Just in bulk," Val teases. "Uncle Ben is a lot of things, but cerebral isn't one of them." She mimicks his voice, "Its Clobberin' Time!!!" She laughs merrily. "But yeah. I've yet to meet any guys my age with half a brain, and then guys older are either not interested at all or suuuuuuper interested if you know what I mean." She wrinkles her nose, and her shoulder sag a little. "And even if I did, like, find an actual date my Godfather would probably nuke them from orbit." She sighs overdramatically. "The curse of being a beautiful teenage princess genius." At least that last bit is delivered jokingly. "But I'm sure you'll find someone. There are tons of smart girls out there!"

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic laughs. "Yeah, that 16-20 range is not when we're at our best," he agrees. "Hell, when I was that age, I was smart but also kind of full of myself at first, then an angst monster after the accident. I'm not saying I didn't go on any dates, but ... they were mostly first dates," he admits. He shakes his head, shuts his eyes, and lifts his eyebrows with a sigh. "I'm definitely better company now. At least I can say that I'm making progress?"

He gives her a quizzical look at one point, and has to ask: "Your Godfather? Sorry, I know the basic family group of the FF, but ... I would have assumed that was Ben, actually. Or, wait, that's right! He's Jewish, isn't he?" Eliminating that candidate leaves him at a loss.

"Still, if he's kicking the butts of older guys who are way too interested in his beautiful teenage princess genius, he can't be all bad." As he finishes saying this, their plates arrive, and he wastes no time trying a little bit of each of the items he ordered.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Val starts into her Drunken Noodles with delight, glancing up at Vic and offhandedly saying, "Oh, Doctor Doom is Godfather." She sips her water and picks at the spicy appetizers she has as well. "Well, I sure there are a lot of fun people to try new first dates with. We'll just have to vet them to make sure they aren't totally braindead."

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic freezes with his mouth open and a forkful of peanutty noodle deliciousness halfway to his mouth. He slowly lowers the fork back to the plate, staring openly. "Doctor Doom," he echoes in disbelief. "As in Victor Von. The dictator of Latveria Doctor Doom." Cyborg must know a lot of Doctor Dooms to need this much clarification.

He lifts a napkin to his lips, wipes them clean, and then leans forward so sharply that he nearly knocks the bench seat back. "How the hell did you end up with Doctor Doom as your Godfather?!"

The question of his own dating life is utterly forgotten, drawn in by the black-hole gravity of this revelation.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Val blinks. "Oh. Well, uh..." she spins her fork in her noodles, considering how to answer. "Um, well, when Mom had me, like... she nearly... died. There were complications. Godfather saved both of us. So." She shrugs. "Dad explained it once. There's a lot of temporal dilation, cosmic radiation, and subspace particles that were involved. Godfather used 'magic' but we all know that's just manipulation of unmeasurable subquantum protocosmic particulates."

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic blinks away his stare, settling back into his seat again. "I'm glad you and your mom are OK," he says politely. "So is this a magical compact kind of thing, or did your parents just do it out of gratitude?" Although he is personally a man of science, Vic has more than a passing familiarity with the binding and contractual nature of a lot of magic, from his experience with the mystically inclined Titans. He doesn't have as easy a time as Valeria with attributing such... willful behavior to unknown exotic particles, but he's more than happy to allow: "It's definitely beyond the limits of our scientific understanding, but it does seem to operate according to rules that can be understood."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Right. If it were actually 'magic' it would have no rules." Val shrugs. She doesn't believe that anything can't be explained, just not explained YET. "And no. No compacts or anything. Dad and Godfather say they hate each other, but honestly..." she leans forward and lowers her voice. "I think they both protest too much." She leans back and goes back to eating her noodles. "I don't pry, but I think they were besties before or something. And something happened to make them BIG MAD at each other, so now they do their whole fist shaking at each other, but..." she tilts her head. "But Godfather wouldn't let anything happen to me. Or my brother. So." She makes a dismissive noise.

Victor Stone has posed:
At the suggestion that the gentlemen doth protest too much, Vic lets out a sharp snort of amusement. "I don't know..." he says skeptically. "If they're buds, that fist shaking has exploded into some pretty serious tiffs over the years. But you know them both -- I don't." He gives a shrug. "And they both might tone it down with you around, too. I could see that." He tilts his head to the side and peers at her, asking, "So, do you, like... visit Latveria? That would be crazy... I'd love to get a closer look at a Doombot." He laughs again. "And keep what few parts of my body I have left afterward, I mean."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Mm. Dad doesn't think it's a good idea, but if I wanted to I probably could." Val finishes up her noodles. "I considered for over the summer but... parents." She makes a face. "I've been sticking close to home because I reeeeally don't want to deal with Mom getting onto me. Geez. It's not like giant space ships full of evil alien monsters haven't, you know, attacked New York City lately... but no, everywhere ELSE is dangerous."

Victor Stone has posed:
"Yeah, I imagine it's even tougher to avoid getting in trouble when your mom can turn invisible and sneak up on you," Vic answers. "I got in enough trouble with parents who were /regular/ geniuses." His own meal -- meals, multiple? -- has been disappearing rapidly while Val speaks, although he listens to her closely.

He gives his lips another once-over with a napkin, sits back, and says, "Parents approving or not, I don't think I could resist the curiosity, just to see what it's like there." He shrugs metal shoulders, adding, "I mean, not that it isn't dangerous, even kind of scary. But for all the bad things you can say about Doom, I don't think he'd break a personal oath like that. Even if it isn't an oath of vengeance." He snickers and finishes, "If you do go, bring back lots of photos!"

Valeria Richards has posed:
Val laughs. "I'll send postcards, too," she teases. The Thai Tea arrives for them both, and Val takes hers with great gusto. "I looooove this stuff. There's a place around the corner from the Baxter Building that does these with those little bubble pearls in them, too." She takes a long drink of her tea. "So, what's it like to be all superheroic like, all the time?" Her eyes glint with interest.

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic sips his tea as well, grinning. "Nice!" he replies. "We've got a stock of boba in the fridge back at the Tower -- along with pretty much every other form of snack or candy known to man. I'll have to try that sometime."

At her question about the constant superhero lifestyle, he shrugs and answers, "I mean, probably not too different from being the kid of the most famous superheroes ever. You can never really turn it off. Although a lot of times, people don't actually recognize me, especially in street clothes. They know I'm /a/ cyborg, but a lot of them don't even know /the/ Cyborg exists." He rolls his eyes a little, and continues, "You'd be amazed how many times I've walked into a store or something, just for people to assume I'm a supervillain here to rob them. I mean..." He sits back gently, and shrugs. "It's hard for me to complain that cyborgs get a bad rap right after the whole Brainiac thing, but... we kind of do."

Valeria Richards has posed:
Val looks sympathetic. "I mean... that's kind of terrible, because a lot of villains look just like normal people anyway. How do you know that waiter over there isn't some kind of mastermind?" She cocks her head. "I mean, you really don't until they start monologuing, right?"

Victor Stone has posed:
Vic nods with a pained expression, then sets his tea back down. "Yeah, tell me about it. People are just like that, though. Everybody gets nasty assumptions made about them. You should see the stuff Starfire has to deal with. As for the waiter?" Vic leans out of the booth and peers at him, being comically obvious about it, even to the point of making his artificial eye shine bright red as though it's scanning. Finally, he scoots back into his normal spot and answers, "We know he's not a villain mastermind because there's no way a mastermind would be dumb enough to try something with the two of /us/ here."

Valeria Richards has posed:
Val laughs brightly. "That's true!" she grins. She sips her tea in thought for a little bit. "Well, date or no date, this is fun," she points out. "It's nice to get to spend time with someone else who gets it." She hms. "We should do this again sometime. Maybe not exactly this, but do social things. ...but not in Gotham, that place is gross."

Victor Stone has posed:
"Yeah, we should!" Vic agrees. "You've got my number, we've both got supervehicles. We could get a group together and go basically anywhere." He laughs at her assessment of Gotham, but does protest a little bit: "Some of my best friends are from Gotham. I know what you mean, though. Not really the vibe for a casual hangout unless you're looking for" -- he squints, considering how to say it -- "a very particular scene."

Valeria Richards has posed:
"Awesome!" Val grins. "We'll definitely have to do... something." She frowns. "Not sure what yet but I'm sure we'll figure it out!" She brightens again. "And yeah. Probably not those scenes, no. Not my... vibe." She squints back at him.